Key takeaways:
- Some Nova Scotia dealerships include near-empty lots, and drivers wait months for a new car.
- The back lot of Steele Chrysler in Halifax, which is usually packed, was almost empty on Thursday.
Lost are the days when an individual could step into a car dealership and go away with the car of their picking on the same day.
With the lack of new cars, dealerships across Nova Scotia see customers put a deposit on vehicles they haven’t even seen, only to delay months for them to be supplied from the manufacturer.
The Bruce Hyundai dealership in New Minas, N.S., presently has approximately 20 new cars on its lot. The previous year at this time, it had nearly 200.
This isn’t an isolated case.
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“There’s a much higher need, a much lower supply, so I think clients are beginning to panic. It’s basically like the housing market,” said Bruce Hyundai’s general manager Brittany Deveau.
Industry professionals say a worldwide lack of microchips utilized in cars and the fighting in Ukraine that has disrupted the supply of neon gas used to make semiconductors has struck the auto manufacturing industry powerfully. Being in the business for 15 years, Deveau said she’s never witnessed a market like this.
She said buyers could wait eight to 18 weeks for gas cars and between 24 to 36 months for electric vehicles, whose popularity had risen during the outbreak. The dealership’s primary electric vehicles, the Hyundai IONIQ 5 and the Hyundai Kona Electric have already sold out for 2023.
“We’ve had clients that have never seen maybe, you know, a Kona Electric, and they’re setting down a $1,000 deposit and purchasing one sight unseen,” said Deveau.
Source – cbc.ca
